Cutting block



Aug. 25, 1953 J. w. COLE ET AL CUTTING BLOCK Filed May 5, 1948 PatentedAug. 25, 1953 OFFICE CUTTING BLOCK Joseph Cole, Portsmouth, and LawrenceE.

, McElroy, Newport News, Va.

Application May 3, 1948, Serial No. 24,774

4 Claims. v(Cl. 16458) This invention relates to improvements in cuttingblocks, adapted for use in cutting out portions of sheet material, suchas paper, rubber, cork, cloth, felt, and particularly leather, by meansof dies or knives adapted for this purpose.

It is customary in cutting out blanks of shoe soles and other parts ofshoes from sheets of leather to use a cutting block as a support for thesheet material during the cutting operation. It is desirable that thecutting block offer sufficient resistance to a cutting knife or die sothe latter may make a clean cut through the material operated upon theforming a blank, without leaving frayed edges on the blank which wouldbe injurious to the quality of the product and would depreciate itsvalue. Wood, paper and other substances have been used ordinarily asblock materials. These have been subject to many objections, butparticularly because they do not maintain their shape and disintegraterapidly. The wood blocks splinter; fiber and paper blocks disintegrate,causing permanent troughs or valleys after a few thousand cuts. Thesedepressions result in raw edges or strings on the blanks or shoe solesand thereby prevent a clean cut, resulting in depreciation in the valueof the product.

The object of this invention is to improve the construction of a cuttingblock for this purpose, to provide a longer life for the block withoutrequiring frequent resurfacing thereof, to prevent the formation oftroughs or valleys in the surface of the block during the use thereof,and to maintain the sharpened condition of the cutting knives or dies.

Another object of this invention is to provide a cutting block whichabsorbs the blows from the cutting knives and thereby reduces the wearon the cutting machine proper, as well as reduces noise from theoperation thereof.

These objects are accomplished according to a preferred embodiment ofthis invention by utilizing torn or ground shreds of hair-likeconsistency formed of leather which are bonded securely by a suitablebinder and compressed under hydraulic pressure to a substantialhomogeneous solid block.

This embodiment is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one form of cutting block embodying thisinvention:

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section thereto on the line 22 in Fig. 3; and

Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line 3-3 in Fig. 2.

The invention may be applied to any suitable or desired form of cuttingblock such as for instance is illustrated in the drawings. The blockshown is of a conventional construction in general, including a cuttingblock member I having a cutting surface on the upper side thereofadapted to receive the material to be cut and to form the workingsurface of the block. The member I is adapted to be confined in shape byend plates 2 which may be of wood, metal, or the like, which end plates2 are connected together by a tie bolt 3, extending lengthwise throughthe block including the members I and 2. The size and shape of thiscutting block may be varied as desired according to the material to beoperated on and the characteristics of the knife or die to be used. Oneform is shown merely for purpose of illustration.

The surface member I forms the cutting surface. This member is formedfrom hair-like shreds of scrap leather bonded together by a suitableresinous adhesive and clamped into a solid impregnated block underhydraulic pressure, which may be formed in the shape desired or cut tothe desired shape after formation.

It has been found that this cutting surface member may be prepared byusing scrap sole leather, waste leather, etc., which is shredded as byan attrition mill to tear the leather scraps to very fine hair-likeshreds, which may be from one-quarter inch to three-quarter inch inlength or of varying lengths. These shreds are impregnated or sprayed orotherwise coated with a suitable type of binder. One form of binder thathas been found to be quite satisfactory is a resinous adhesive such asthat set forth in the patent to Flaherty, Re. No. 16,803, grantedNovember 29, 1927. The shredded leather and binder are compacted in amold under suitable hydraulic pressure such as of the nature of from2000 to 5000 pounds per square inch, which compresses the shreddedleather into a solid block where it is held under pressure until theadhesive sets securely binding the shreds together. Thereafter thepressure may be released and the block removed from the mold.

It is preferred that the shreds be substantially dust free when used,for which purpose they may be subjected to a blower or compressed airaction or otherwise agitated in mixing the shreds in a mass before theyare kneaded or otherwise coated with the adhesive.

Experience has shown that a block thus formed -may be subjected to morethan 50,000 cuts or stampings before requiring resurfacing as comparedwith from 5,000 to 8,000 cuts made on maple Wood or paper blocksgenerally in use heretofore. This material improvement is possiblebecause the working surface of the block formed according to thisinvention does not become subjected to grooves or valleys therein duringthe cutting operation as usually results with a wood or paper block usedheretofore. Consequently, it is not necessary to resurface the blocknearly so frequently as has been required before. The surface of thisblock is maintained substantially free of indentations because of itssubstantially yieldable surface characteristics that provide therequired rigidity of a clean out by the knife without disintegration orsplintering which would cause valleys or grooves to be formed in thesurface.

After a suitable period of use, the block may be resurfaced, if desired,by removing the surface thereof with a saw or by other mechanicalmethods, after which it is capable of being reused as before.

It has been found that the block thus formed is waterproof and is notaffected by temperature conditions, condensation, etc. Wood and paperblocks used heretofore are subject to swelling and spreading in themachine, making their removal difiicult. Thus the blocks made accordingto this invention may be changed more quickly when required, althoughthe life thereof is extended many times.

It has also been found from experience that the block does not have anappreciable dulling action on the knives or dies which latter do notrequire sharpening at frequent intervals as has been necessaryheretofore.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in oneembodiment, it is recognized that variations-and changes may be madetherein without departing from the invention except as specified in theclaims.

We claim:

1. A cutting block consisting of a body portion formed of a relativelysolid block consisting solely of hair-like shredded leather particlesintermingled and secured together by a resinous adhesive under pressurein the form of a substantially solid block.

2. A cutting block comprising a body portion consisting of finehair-like leather shreds adhesively secured together under substantialpressure and forming a solid block.

3. A cutting block consisting of a body portion formed of a relativelysolid block consisting solely of substantially dust free hair-likeshredded leather particles intermingled and secured together by aresinous adhesive under pressure in the form of a substantially solidblock.

4. A cutting block comprising a body portion consisting solely of finehair-like leather shreds, said shreds being substantially one-quarter tothree-quarters of an inch in length, said shreds being adhesivelysecured together under a pressure of from 2,000 to 5,000 lbs. per squareinch and forming a solid block.

JOSEPH W. COLE. LAWRENCE E. MCELROY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 170,962 Nichols Dec. 14, 1875 204,176 Weed May 28, 1878376,855 Choate Jan. 24, 1888 671,604 Nealson Apr. 9, 1901 687,849Nealson Dec. 3, 1901 836,686 Hurd Nov. 27, 1906 1,399,937 Denning Dec.13, 1921 1,499,015 Gusdorf June 24, 1924 1,562,162 Gusdorf 1 Nov, 17,1925 2,091,726 Woodward Aug. 31, 1937

